The 4th Amendment be damned?

There is THIS from Indiana, and THIS from California.

The Indiana case is even worse than California's.  Look at this:

 INDIANAPOLIS | Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes.

Z:  At least in California it seems that they can "only" enter your home if you're suspected of having driven under the influence, which is still horrible, of course (the DUI and the entrance):

 (AP) SAN FRANCISCO Police may enter Californians' homes without warrants to arrest those suspected of driving under the influence, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a case testing the scope of the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.


The 6-1 decision follows similar rulings in about a dozen other states. A dissenting justice said the majority handed authorities a "free pass" to unlawfully enter private homes and arrest people without warrants.


Under the Fourth Amendment, authorities are prohibited from entering a home and making an arrest without a warrant unless so-called "exigent" circumstances are present. Those include "hot pursuit" of a fleeing felon, imminent destruction of evidence and the risk of danger to the police or other persons inside or outside of a house, among others.


In this case, Justice Marvin Baxter wrote that the loss of evidence at issue was obtaining a measurement of the suspect's blood-alcohol level. Baxter added that a contrary ruling would allow "the corruption of evidence that occurs when the suspect takes advantage of any delay to ingest more alcohol -- or to claim to have done so -- or when the suspect evades police capture until he or she is no longer intoxicated."


Baxter and the majority was cautious in saying the decision would not give police carte blanche powers.

Z: I want to thank Carol at HER BLOG for bringing these things to my attention...   Is anybody who lives in Indiana hearing about your situation, which seems EONS worse that in California?  By the way, in California, I can go along with the situation described above because if someone runs from their car into their house while drunk and then a warrant must be served, the breath test will be invalid after some time; the alcohol dissipates with time....so is this as bad as it sounds?  As bad as Indiana's laws?

Since Carol had already blogged it at her excellent blog, I'd have hesitated to post this at all (though I think it needs even more exposure) but I post it so I can tell this funny and very true story:

Most of you know I had the amazing experience of living in Paris for four years.   At one social event, there was a policewoman there who told me something I wanted to share with you.  In France, search and seizure is a daily thing; they see something they feel is endangering or bothersome to people and the cops  take care of it, whether it's into one's home or one's car.   It's been done there forever and they don't look at it as unusual...EXCEPT, the policewoman told me the French love American "crimmies", or TV CRIME STORIES, and I laughed my head off when she told me "Now, we say we are coming in and the people inside say 'Do you have a warrant?'   We have to tell them 'we are in FRANCE, not America, we do not need a warrant, let us IN!"    She had to laugh, too!  I thought that was hilarious........and it seemed fitting for the situations above. (I must admit she didn't laugh quite as hard as I did). 

But, let's go back to America........What's your take on these Fourth Amendment situations?   How can Americans allow this to happen?  Is the California ruling as bad as Indiana's?  What's next?

geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeZ

Policemen and the public

I've had reason to spend some time with policemen lately.  NO, I haven't been arrested (!), I've attended the funeral and a cop-sponsored and prepared picnic lunch for a policeman who I wrote about recently, an American hero in my eyes.  He worked the late shift for more years than he had to because he liked taking sandwiches to the homeless, feeding stray cats by the hundreds, and paying for dog groomers for homeless peoples' dogs...all on his nickle.   He shared a few things with someone I know who relayed them to me and I wanted to share them with you.   I can't tell you what district they're from but I can say it's the L.A. area and that I don't think this is unique to Los Angeles.

There is the situation where cops have to cuff criminals and the criminal then screams he's been hurt by the cuffs or something in the arrest.  That cop has to take the perp to an ER and wait there until he's been seen.   Cops are then witness to ER employees slipping lawyer's business cards to the criminals who fake injury at their arrest.  Meanwhile, the cops sit there knowing this perp will either get rich or get off.....arresting can't be easy when a criminal is on drugs or just trying hard to get away and won't calm down and they do get a bruise here or there, so's the cop! But, the cop can't call a lawyer!  But the perps are taught how to do it.


Another pretty shocking fact is that the cops are fired on every single night during their shifts.....in the air, at the car, whatever..........they have guns shot at them all the time and nobody discusses this in the city council or the media.   I don't know how they don't get and remain so bitter they literally cannot "protect and serve".  They have wives and children at home, get shot at, take criminals into ERs because of the rules and waste hours sitting there because the law says they must and then they have to witness ER employees doing their best to help the perp?     And so many of us are so hard on cops, aren't we.   As if all of them are monsters in metal who can't get hurt, whose families don't worry, as if they're making $200K a year to take the abuse?

Funny, there was a sign I saw on the median of the street leading to the funeral that day.  It said:

TIMES CHANGE.........VALUES DON'T

Times sure have changed;  we used to have respect for those who risk their lives to save ours.   Values?    They shouldn't change, but it sure seems like they have.  Yes, I KNOW some cops screw up, I know some of us have been arrested and didn't like it.  No one's saying cops are perfect.  I'm posting this to show another side and to relay some pretty horrid truths we should all know.......something we should all keep in mind the next time we see a cop.  

z

Money for an accidental death? What do you think?

HERE is a truly awful and very sad story from which I've pasted the following paragraphs in italics:

DETROIT – A sleeping 7-year-old girl was shot and killed when an officer's gun went off while Detroit police were searching a duplex for a suspect in the slaying of a teenager, a police official said. Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee said at a news conference Sunday that Aiyana Jones was hit in the neck by a single bullet and died at a hospital. Police said the girl was sleeping on a couch when she was shot. The article goes on to say:

"We cannot undo what occurred this morning," Godbee said. "All we can do is to pledge an open and full investigation and to support Aiyana's family in whatever way they may be willing to accept from us at this time."

I got to pondering this and wondered about money. Do you think it's right for people to demand money for the death of a human being? There is no mention of this in the article, I have no reason to believe the parents will be asking for anything, but I got to thinking about it and I know this is a loaded subject and I wondered what you think...........thanks.

(also, please see the short post below, thanks SO much)

z

Excuse me, you forgot your child.............

A BOSTON TAXI CAB DRIVER HAS BEEN HELD RESPONSIBLE WHEN A COUPLE LEFT THEIR SLEEPING CHILD IN HIS CAB OUT OF HIS EYESIGHT. WHAT? Read about that HERE.

The police blamed THE DRIVER for not having checked that the whole cab was empty of suitcases and.............CHILDREN when he'd dropped them off at their home? The PARENTS forgot their child and HE is to blame? Have we come to this?

You think HE should have been responsible? More than the PARENTS?!!

What do you think?

Is it RACIST to ask for ID?

UPDATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT:
I did not watch Obama's healthcare speech....no way...there aren't enough martinis....but I digress.
I DID see his response to a question about this incident here with Professor Gates: Mr. Obama said he understood that this professor did nothing wrong, implied it's a typical profiling case, smiled sadly, and said the police there "acted stupidly". Article HERE.
Howard Feinman from Newsweek was on MSNBC with Rachel Maddow and they showed the statement by Obama on this....Feinman actually SAID..."what's important is that you could see Obama BECOME THAT MAN....." I swear he did. The implication being that Obama is so empathetic and has suffered from racism so much that he actually BECAME Professor Gates and ISN'T THAT WONDERFUL OF HIM? What struck me is that OBAMA HEARD WHAT HE WANTED TO HEAR, FOLKS, and got it WRONG. This president is such an angry man. If he didn't have the facts, why didn't he say so; he got it all wrong and had no problem giving his version as if it just had to have been that way. This was BAD.

Tuesday evening UPDATE FOLKS: HERE is a NEW ARTICLE on the subject, extrapolating on your comments..... OH, BROTHER, is this amazing. IS AMERICA INSANE?

Tuesday afternoon: There are so many aspects to this story HERE that I don't know where to start, really.

A Black Professor at Harvard University was on a trip....he had a driver get him from the airport and drive him home. The driver and this professor walked up the front steps and found that the door wouldn't open so they pushed against it long enough to arouse the curiosity of a caring neighbor who decided she should call the police and alert them that someone was obviously breaking into her neighbor's home. ...for more, see the link.

The upshot is that the professor didn't like being asked to present identification to prove that was his home. WHY NOT? Instead, he accused the cops of RACISM. But......if they had NOT come to this Black professor's home and 2 guys WERE trying to bust their way in the front door, then what? Racism for not coming immediately to a Black man's home?

Of course, JESSE JACKSON says "The charges have been dropped, but the stain remains. ... Humiliation remains," Jackson said. "These incidents are so much of a national pattern on race."

What are your thoughts on this? Should the woman who called not have mentioned that what appeared to be two burglars were Black? Then, perhaps the police wouldn't have known what they were looking for, right? It sounds like it might have a happy ending (especially for Jesse Jackson, who got a chance to get his name in the limelight again), the cops are dropping charges, but HAVE WE COME TO THIS? Shouldn't the prof be HAPPY they were on the job? A cop can't ask for ID because, if you're Black, they must be RACIST? WOW

Unrelated..but related......There is this story HERE about kids being turned away from a private pool in Pennsylvania, remember? This story HERE, today, implies this was all about racism....That makes me grieve. NO RACISM SHOULD BE ACCEPTED!!! But, it's not helping America when things are twisted and mischaracterized. Some of the kids couldn't swim, the pool was too crowded for the amount of lifeguards and it hurt the children's feelings...why? Couldn't they be told THAT instead of the implications of racism? Remember that little boy crying that "this is America and this shouldn't be happening here"? You think a 7 year old would say that on his own? .... that's my take, anyway. Now these poor kids learn a lesson I'm not sure helps them...or America. Do I think it's marvelous they have a free trip to Disney World? YOU BET. But, this? Notsomuch. (and, do I need to add that if ANY member of that club DID say anything about those children simply because of the color of their skin, that there's a very special place in hell for them?)

z (thanks for the tip on the top piece, Mustang)

Orson Bean writes for Big Hollywood.......please give this a read and send what you can

The piece below the LA Times article below was just written by my friend, Orson Bean. He is the father-in-law of Andrew Breitbart and Andrew published this Saturday on the Big Hollywood part of his blog. You will want to check out Big Hollywood if you haven't already done so, he has some great articles there.

Sgt Curtis Massey was 41

From the Los Angeles Times, Thursday January 29th, 2009:

2 DIE IN HEAD-ON COLLISION

A Culver City police officer and a Van Nuys man were killed Wednesday in a head-on collision that closed several lanes of the 10 freeway for hours during the morning commute.

Sgt. Curtis Massey, 41, was driving east on his way to work when he was struck about 5 a.m. just west of National Boulevard by a silver Toyota Camry traveling the wrong way, said Officer Miguel Luevano of the California Highway Patrol. Massey’s unmarked police car, a four-door Dodge Charger, was engulfed in flames.

No one else was hurt and the CHP is investigating. Pete Demetriou, a radio reporter for KFWB-AM (980) was driving to work around 4:55 a.m. on the eastbound 10, when he saw a car, driven by the Van Nuys man, coming toward him.

“You’re used to seeing headlights coming at you, but you assume they’re on the other side,” he said. “At about 200 yards I realized he was coming in my lane.” Demetroiu said he called police after the car passed him traveling about 65 mph. All eastbound lanes and two westbound lanes of the 10 were closed at the 405 freeway until about 1 p.m.

Massey, who is survived by a wife and three young children, was a 17-year veteran of the police department and was most recently assigned to the juvenile detective bureau.

Police Chief Don Pedersen told reporters that Massey dedicated much of his free time to working with at risk-teens and every year volunteered for the Santa sleigh, a holiday event in which officers escort Santa Claus around the city and distribute presents to children.

“He was a friend and trusted colleague who could always be counted on to be the first one to volunteer for an assignment,” Pedersen said of Massey, who was a Medal of Valor recipient. “The community today has lost a dedicated police sergeant.”

Megan Gallagher, 28, a former community service officer who worked with the department for five years, was shocked when she heard the news about Massey, a colleague who had served as her mentor.

“He was someone I looked up to and someone I trusted at the station. Being one of the few females there, it’s kind of hard to talk to everybody,” she said. “When I started there, we have to get our uniforms and he offered up his jacket so I didn’t have to spend the money. He made my first days there comfortable. He was an automatic friend from Day One.”

On behalf of Massey’s family, the department has set up the Sgt. Curtis Massey Memorial Fund. Donations can be sent to Culver City Employees Federal Credit Union, 9770 Culver Blvd. Culver City CA 90232.

On the morning of the accident, I had a ten a.m. audition at Culver Studios at the junction of Washington Blvd. and Culver Blvd. for a chance to play Meryl Streep’s psychiatrist in a Nancy Meyers movie. My wife, the actress Alley Mills, had a ten a.m. rehearsal call at her soap opera, “The Bold and the Beautiful,” at CBS Television City, Fairfax and Beverly in Hollywood. We live on the west side in Venice.

At 8:45, I turned on 1070 News Radio to hear the traffic report. All lanes closed on the 10, it said, and as a result, eastbound traffic on Venice Blvd. and Washington Blvd. was virtually at a stand-still. Both of us panicked. “Damn it,” I muttered, reminding myself of Jack Bauer on “24.” “One more inconvenience in Los Angeles.”

We both flew out of the house. I shark-drove side streets and managed to get to my audition only ten minutes late. Alley was tardy by three quarters of an hour. So was everyone else in the cast. And as the day went on, we heard stories of actors, directors and crew people in the same fix all over the city. I remember thinking, “It’s like a movie, like ‘Crash,’ or something. One incident happens and dozens of lives are affected.”

The next day, I looked in the paper to find out what had occurred that had driven me so nuts. The small piece on the inside of the California section I’ve re-printed above was what I found. When I read it I remembered that Alley, when she’d heard that the cops were distributing toys for kids, had gone to the toy store run by a Vietnamese couple next to the old Venice Fox Theater and bought three brand new bicycles. She’d loaded them into our Ford van and driven them over to the station on Culver Blvd. It was a nice black cop who thanked her for them, she said, so I guess it wasn’t Curtis Massey.

Later that morning I got a call from my daughter Susie Breitbart, Andrew’s wife and the mother of their four young kids. “Dad,” she asked me, “do you remember years ago a police officer stopped you for speeding and recognized you from TV and said, ‘You’re Susie Bean’s father; I went to Pali High with her. I can’t give you a ticket,’ and he let you go?”

“Sure I do,” I said.

“Well, that was my friend Curt from Pali. He’s the officer who was killed in that terrible accident on the 10 yesterday. He was a really good guy,” she said.

Later on that Thursday, Alley got a call from a friend of hers from Bible study. The cop’s wife’s best friend, it turns out, is in her class. Six degrees…

An extraordinary human being is wiped off the face of the earth in a split second and all over town we experience it as just one more annoyance in L.A.

I just sent off a good sized check. Perhaps you’ll do the same

Z: Orson asked me to publish this and ask for financial help for the family, at the address above in bold. Thanks, if you can help this family.

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